


They'd made it this far

by Bellaromanza



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-11
Updated: 2011-09-11
Packaged: 2017-10-23 15:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/252081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellaromanza/pseuds/Bellaromanza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny goes back to Jersey for the 10th Anniversary of September 11th. Steve realizes that maybe Danny needs him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They'd made it this far

**Author's Note:**

> My sister and brother in law, a paramedic, are there at Ground Zero this morning. It's what inspired this.

“I need time off,” Danny’s voice said, almost abruptly for him.

Raising his head, Steve stared at his partner, waiting for more, but when there was no more forthcoming, Steve circled his hand. “And?”

Steven had been back in charge of 5-0 for just a couple of months, and the team was still trying to get past, well, everything. The betrayal of Governor Jameson, Kono’s arrest, Steve’s imprisonment, Rachel’s part, Danny’s almost leaving without saying anything…suffice it to say that it hadn’t been an easy couple of months but it was getting there.

Danny made a face, then sighed and stalked into Steve’s office, flopping ungracefully in the chair in front of his desk.

“I’m flying to Jersey for September 11th.”

September 11th. It was such a normal date for such a haunting memory.

“Okay,” Steve said softly. “Can I ask why?”

Leaning forward, Danny braced his elbows on his knees and Steve could almost see the burden on his partner’s shoulders, like it was just out of the corner of his eye but he knew it was there.

“I lost an uncle, two cousins on September 11th. Uncle Danny, who you’ll be shocked to know I was named after, was a firefighter. He died when the towers fell. Sean was an intern at Cantor Fitzgerald, and Lacy was on Flight 93.”

“Jesus, Danny,” Steve said, shocked to the core, feeling blindsided by not knowing this side of Danny when he’d thought he known everything. “Is there anything I can do?”

Danny waved an irritable hand. “It’s not like you haven’t lost people to terrorists either. I just need to be there. Without Matty it will be doubly hard on the family. I think we’re marching with other first responders, too.”

“Of course, Danny. Whatever you need.”

Sighing deeply, Danny raised his eyes to Steve. “Thanks, Babe.”

Caught by the sadness, the barely restrained feelings in his friend’s eyes, Steve could only nod.

*~

September 8th was a hard day for Steve. He’d had to drop Danny off at the airport for his flight back to the main land. It was hard because since he’d been released from prison he and Danny had practically been inseparable. Whether it was Steve’s reluctance to be alone with his thoughts, or Danny’s reluctance to let Steve out of his sight after what had happened last time, they’d been living in each other’s pockets for months. There was something else there, something that lingered beneath the watching t.v. together, ragging on each other’s baseball teams, covering each other’s sixes in the field, something deeper, intangible, something that sometimes made Steve’s breath catch in his chest when Danny would look at him in a certain way.

September 9th found him waking in his office, a pissed off Kono hovering like a vengeful goddess. The night before he’d decided that his house was too fucking empty and stayed at 5-0, where he’d apparently feel asleep at his desk.

“Ow?” he muttered, rubbing his eyes and wincing at the crick in his neck and the pain in his back. He sure wasn’t 20 anymore and sleeping in chairs was a bad idea.

“Go home, pack your bags,” she ordered flatly.

Steve blinked. “Uh, why?”

Kono put her hands on her hips. “Danny needs you. With Matt in the wind he needs you to be there for him. You guys have hardly been apart so don’t think I can’t tell how much you miss him, boss.”

Staring for a long moment, Steve let the truth settle in his bones. He missed Danny so ridiculously much that his heart hurt. And Kono was right, his place was by Danny’s side. “Yeah, okay. I don’t want to wait for commercial if I don’t have to, can Chin find…”

“It’s done,” Kono interrupted. “Go home, you’re packing, including your uniform, and then we’re headed to Hickam. Chop chop, brah.”

~*

Every time there was a knock at the door, Danny could see his mom’s hopeful eyes and knew it killed her that it was never Matty. It wouldn’t have mattered what his stupid brother had done, he’d have been welcomed back like the prodigal son. But it never was, just neighbors offering condolences, again, like it hadn’t been ten fucking years, and Dad’s fellow firefighters coordinating their trip for tomorrow.

“Ma, I’ve got to get out of here for awhile,” he said, and she smiled sadly and nodded.

His sisters both glanced over, and his older sister Sandy got up, “I’ll come with.” She hugged their mother and followed Danny out the front door and onto the sidewalk in front of their house.

“I could kill Matty,” she muttered fiercely and they walked down the street. Danny sighed and bumped her shoulder, knowing she knew he understood. They didn’t speak anymore, wordlessly heading to the corner and turning right, going into Bruno’s Bar and Grill like they’d done a thousand times.

“Danny! Sandy!” voices chorused, and it was like being back in the embrace of their past. It would’ve been perfect except the TV’s were all tuned to the replaying of 9-11. Michael Bruno, grandson of the founder of the bar slid two draft to them, clasping their hands in comfortable greeting before moving off to serve more of their old friends, old friends from the neighborhood, friends that they’d grown up with.

Danny let everything fall away, sitting with his sister and catching up. Who had married, divorced, had kids, lost parents, moved away, moved back. It was almost cleansing in its way, to know that people had continued to live, to thrive after 9-11, that his own small microcosm of the United States was as strong, even stronger than ever after such a devastating loss. His neighborhood had lost almost thirty people, either as first responders or people who’d been working in the Towers. Everyone knew, or had been related to someone who’d died. But they’d made it, and here they were, proof that they were better than those bastards who’d tried to destroy them.

He missed Steve fiercely right then, but coming back had somehow healed something he hadn’t realized was still broken. He felt better, like he was healing, though the wound was still tender, there was a balm of love and friendship and brotherhood that covered it, and going home, to Hawaii, to Steve...would complete the healing.

 

Sandy and Danny were only a little drunk as they headed back to the house. Neither of them spoke much, but such was their relationship. As they got closer to the house, they saw a taxi pull up and their hearts sped up.

“Do you think…” Sandy began, but Danny recognized the lean form that got out of the taxi, the battered seabag carefully placed on the sidewalk.

“Steve,” he said and sprinted down the sidewalk. Steve heard the footsteps and turned, smiling as he caught Danny in a bearhug so tight that Danny couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t matter.

“Danno,” Steve said softly. Steve had him.

 

September 11th dawned just as blue and bright as that fateful morning ten years prior. Danny was standing with a thousand other brothers in sisters in uniform, from every state in the union, every service, his father, Steve, his sister, and more as far as the eye could see. Danny glanced at Steve, who quirked a smile in return, a promise in those amazing eyes. They’d made it this far, they’d make it all of the way.


End file.
